ANZSA Newsletter - December 2022

In this edition, we share with you all the latest News and Research Updates from the Australia and New Zealand Sarcoma Association. 

Message from the CEO of ANZSA

As the end of 2022 is nearly here we are grateful for the hard work of all the ANZSA members to contribute to achieving our goals. The ANZSA team has adapted well to our hybrid working arrangement and continues to focus on delivering high-quality sarcoma research and clinical trials by working closely with our clinicians, researchers and consumers.

Our 2022 Annual Scientific Meeting was a great success and marked the first time since 2019 that the event was held in person. We were joined by esteemed international and local guest speakers as well as our colleagues across Australia and New Zealand. The meeting saw great audience participation and gave an insight into the current progress of sarcoma treatment in Australia and New Zealand as well as where improvements can be implemented in the years to come. We thank all who attended and we look forward to welcoming you back to our 2023 meeting in Melbourne.

It is great to see the continued progress in the development of the ANZSA Sarcoma Guidelines. The first clinical question in the guidelines has since been published in Radiotherapy and Oncology, an amazing achievement for the guidelines working party. The second series of questions are currently under development and we look forward to releasing them next year.

2022 marked our first Clinical research Fellowship appointment to Dr Madeline Strach for her research focusing on patients with intra-abdominal soft tissue tumours.  We are thrilled to see this project progress over the next few years.  We are pleased to continue to work with our funding partners to provide this fantastic opportunity to grow the sarcoma expertise and contribute to sarcoma research outcomes.

I would like to extend our gratitude to all of our donors who generously supported us throughout 2022. We thank you all for your ongoing support to help us fund our research.

The team from ANZSA wishes everyone a happy and safe holiday season and we looked forward to working together in 2023!

Warm Regards

Dr Denise Caruso | CEO of ANZSA

Annual Scientific Meeting 2022

It was great to see so many of our members in attendance at our 2022 Annual Scientific Meeting. The theme for this year’s event was “Optimal Sarcoma Care for Everyone Everywhere”. There were over 140 people in attendance at the event, with people attending in Sydney, Queenstown and across the world via Zoom.

Across the two days of the ASM, we heard from local and international sarcoma specialists from various disciplines and researchers sharing case studies. Discussions were held around current sarcoma research and developments and there was strong audience engagement at the two different sites. Our international keynote speakers were:

Dr Alessandro Gronchi - Surgicial Oncologist (Milan, Italy)

Dr Silvia Stachiotti - Medical Oncologist (Milan, Italy)

Dr Peter Ferguson - Orthopaedic Oncologist (Toronto, Canda)

ANZSA would like to extend a big thank you to all of our guest speakers who contributed to the event and all of our members who presented during the meeting. We would also like to thank Prof. David Gyorki and the entire ASM Organising Committee who worked tirelessly to secure our guest speakers and made sure the event ran smoothly. Furthermore, the NZ conference Hub was led by Dr Shaneel Deo which was a wonderful success and allowed for a truly cross-national endeavour.

Congratulations to Dr. Vivek Bhadri who was the winner of the 2022 Choong-Dickinson Poster Prize Award with his presentation on C-circle testing as an alternative liquid biopsy approach for osteosarcoma and a special mention to all who submitted an Abstract/ePoster for the event.

Thank you to all of the members who attended and we look forward to welcoming you back next year in Melbourne for the 2023 Annual Scientific Meeting.  Mark your diaries now for November 10th and 11th 2023.

Research & Developments 

Incoming Sarcoma Guidelines Series

The first series of clinical questions in the ANZSA Sarcoma Guidelines were published in July this year.  These guidelines were developed by the Australia and New Zealand Sarcoma Association to inform the best management of patients with sarcoma using scientific evidence.

The second series of clinical questions for the guidelines are currently in the final stages of development and plan to be released for public consultation in early 2023. The guidelines are based on a rigorous review of evidence by a group of independent experts and consumer representatives and the content is continuously updated in accordance to new published research when it becomes available.

Radiotherapy and Oncology Publication

A big congratulations to Clinical Practices Guidelines for Management of Sarcoma Working Party for having their article published in Radiotherapy and Oncology – the leading publication featuring research around radiation oncology.

The article analyses the benefit for radiotherapy at specialised sarcoma centres – drawing from Clinical Question One from the sarcoma guidelines - and was led by Board Director Professor Angela Hong.

You can find a free link to the publication here.

New Patient Guidelines

The Consumer Advisory Panel has begun working on a new consumer/patient information page on the website. This page will aim to assist newly diagnosed sarcoma patients – as well as carers and family members – find relevant information to what they may experience during their sarcoma journey.

The development is being led by Karen Luranti and Sarah Cheung of the CAP. The page will contain links to other relevant sarcoma information websites. All links are to be approved by the Board of Directors before being included on the site to ensure all information is correct and relevant.

The page is currently in development and will be available in early 2023 with regular updates made when new links are reviewed by sarcoma experts.

Trial Updates

All clinical trials currently operating across Australia and New Zealand continue to show positive progression. There are 10 clinical trials and 14 database projects currently open across Australia and New Zealand.

Below are updates from our ongoing clinical trials

STRASS II Sites Open

The STRASS II clinical trial is now open across three sites in Australia. The clinical trial currently operates out of Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Chris O’Brien Lifehouse and Princess Alexandria Hospital. 

The purpose of the STRASS II trial is to determine whether the administration of chemotherapy before surgery represents a better treatment compared to surgery alone and if the administration of chemotherapy before surgery is safe. It is also to assess whether specific chemotherapy can be used to reduce recurrence risk in a patient with either high-grade leiomyosarcoma or high-grade dedifferentiated liposarcoma.

The trial is being led by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and has participation from Europe, Canada, USA and Australia.

SARC032 Nearly reaches target

The SARC032 clincial trial continues to make impressive progress towards the target Australian recruitment number.  As of the 3rd of November, patients recruited at Australian sites sits at 32 patients, with target being 35.

The recruitment process will continue until the global target of 128 is reached, with the current global recruitment sitting at 113 patients worldwide.

The SARC032 clinical trial is a randomized trial of pembrolizumab & radiotherapy versus radiotherapy in high-risk soft tissue sarcomas of the extremity and was first opened in Australia in 2018.

QUEST study new site opening

First opened in November 2021, the QUality of life and Experiences of Sarcoma Trajectories (QUEST) study continues to show promising progress. The trial is the first collaborative study of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) team and aims to gain an insight into the diagnostic pathway for sarcoma patients in order to help improve this pathway and the outcomes for patients in the future.

Alongside the three existing sites – Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Chris O’Brien Lifehouse and Princess Alexandria Hospital – governance has been approved for a new site at the Royal Adelaide Hospital with the QUEST study to begin there in the near future.

There are currently 27 patients recruited across Australia, with the target patient recruitment number being 70.

Interview with Ged Kearny

In November this year, ANZSA had the incredible opportunity to interview Gerardine ‘Ged’ Kearney, the current Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care. Gerardine has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2018 and has a strong connection to the sarcoma community in Australia.

In addition to her previous health care work, Ged’s nephew – Xavier Krikori – passed away from sarcoma at the age of 17. After Xavier’s passing, Ged worked with her family to help establish Kicking Goals for Xav, a key supporter of ANZSA.

In the interview we discuss Ged’s experience with sarcoma, why sarcoma research is important and why ANZSA plays such a key role in the sarcoma community in Australia.

You can watch the video here.

New Additions to ANZSA

Dr. Wayne Nicholls

Congratulations to Dr. Wayne Nicholls for his appointment to the ANZSA Board of Directors. Wayne is a paediatric and adolescent oncologist at the Royal Brisbane Children’s Hospital with over 20 years’ experience and holds a particular interest in brain tumours and sarcomas.

Wayne has been a member of ANZSA and an active contributor to the ANZSA Scientific Advisory Committee for several years now and we look forward to hearing his input at our upcoming board meetings.

Sarah Cheung

We are pleased to welcome Sarah Cheung as our newest member of our Consumer Advisory Panel. Sarah joined ANZSA as a consumer representative in April 2022.  She had been diagnosed with Retroperitoneal Liposarcoma in early 2021.  She is currently the only representative from NZ and resides in Auckland.

Sarah is passionate about raising Sarcoma awareness and helping to provide relevant and trustworthy information to patients, carers and survivors.  She also hopes that there is better equality and uniformity with the level of care provided to Sarcoma patients who come from indigenous, ethnic minority and regional backgrounds. 

Thank you to our donors

ANZSA would like to thank all of our generous donors for their significant contributions and donations towards sarcoma research this year. We rely heavily on these donations to continue our work and we cannot be more grateful for the support we have received so far. Every dollar helps and is invested in high-quality sarcoma research to find a cure and improve outcomes.